It’s May-hem! The Bluefish Blitzkreig - The Fisherman

It’s May-hem! The Bluefish Blitzkreig

2018 5 The Bluefish Blitzkrig BLUEFISH MAIN HORIZONTAL
Expect May mayhem as bruisers like this press through the inlets at Barnegat, Manasquan and hopefully Shark River in 2018.

By beach, boat, bank & jetty, the bluefish invasion should be well underway!

Here there be monsters. All I know is that each May for the last four years I have been bloodied, muscle-weary and beat up around the clock. What can only be described as an all-out assault on New Jersey, the back bays and river systems have been invaded by bluefish, not slammers, not gators, but flat out gorilla bluefish pegging out at 23 pounds and averaging 15 to 20 pounds.

Those numbers are no joke. The annual Jersey Shore spring bluefish invasion has become a straight up world class fishery with a relentless, frenzied attack of blues absolutely ravaging the backwaters, destroying all lures thrown their way and ripping up bait schools without remorse. And it’s coming again, right now.

Tackle Busters

The bluefish gangs seem to be sparked by the early presence of adult bunker that have been stacked in the backwaters, prompting the choppers to enter into the back bays and feed aggressively on the fatty meals. Historically, spring slammers were skinny, lob-headed specimens called “racers” that wintered over and had limited food to eat; but no, that is most definitely not the case nowadays as blues entering the waters are already literally stuffed to the gills with bunker and all other sorts of hapless baitfish. And most interestingly, we’ve been seeing bluefish in spots that have never held them before.

Case in point, last year the schools ravaged all the way up to Huddy Park in the Toms River, which is nearly brackish water, and spanned all the way back past the Route 70 Bridge in the Manasquan River and into upper Silver Bay behind Mantoloking. They were simply in every square inch of water available, including all over the Barnegat Bay expanse, Great Bay, and both Manasquan and Barnegat Inlet areas.

2018 5 The Bluefish Blitzkrig WALL LANDING
If you’re looking to bring a few home to the table after your trip to the inlet wall or jetty, make sure to bring a gaff; and some of those lures that you don’t mind losing.

You’re going to lose gear, a lot of it. This is no time for fooling around. Leave the light tackle and expensive lures at home because you need heavy duty stuff to even turn the head of a 20-pound bluefish, and you’ll be going through a lot of lures. Along the riverbanks and off the deck of a boat, use for example beefy PENN Slammer 7-foot rods rated for 20- to 50-pound matched with PENN 6500 reels or Shimano Stradic 6000 class to turn and burn the drags.

Spool up with 50-pound Power Pro, a 100-pound Spro barrel swivel to a 36-inch section of 50- to 60-pound monofilament Triple Fish leader with a 100-pound TA Clip on the end to switch out lures. Or instead of the TA clip, tie on a 12-inch piece of 80-pound class steel leader with snap clip. The long mono leader is key to landing fish and avoiding the dangers of big-mawed snapping jaws, as you can grab the leader and either swing it over the boat side or drag it up onto the bank without cutting through your hands like braided line oftentimes does.

Pick out the lures you have the least amount of sentimental attachment to, or even rig up some makeshift offerings. Go-to pieces of attraction include thick heavy plastics like Atom poppers, or metals like Ava 17 to 27 jigs, as well as Stillwater Smack-Its, old wooden Gibbs poppers, and Bomber A-Salts. But heed one extremely important word of advice – with any lure you throw, switch out all treble hooks for a lone single hook lest you’ll probably have a visit to the emergency room for a dehooking out of your hand. Monster blues thrash about both at boatside or on the ground. A hooked hand happens fast; limit your risk by switching out the hooks.

By Boat, Bank & Inlet

At any given time of day, bluefish schools will be breaking water and crushing bait schools. If you don’t get a visual, you can simply blindcast around. Via boat it’s easier to get into the fish as schools generally move quickly. If you are into a bunch of blues for a while, but don’t get any hits on the next cast or two, get ahead of the direction they were moving in and start casting again.

Surfcasters lining the Manasquan River, Barnegat Sedges, Island Heights docks and the Seaside Heights docks can randomly cast out bunker chunks or poppers from the docks and sand banks to strike up a hit. As blues ravage through the Barnegat and Manasquan Inlets (and hopefully through Shark River as well), the technique gets a little more cumbersome as anglers lining the walls and rocks need to be able to control their fish as the blues will bury their head and run with the incoming or outgoing currents, tangling up lines quickly. Buckling down that drag and having confidence in your heavy gear is the key to successful landings. Metal lures are easiest to work with around inlet areas as they root deep and stay straight.

2018 5 The Bluefish Blitzkrig TREBLE
Swapping out those treble hooks for a lone single hook will help with a quicker, safer release for both you and that big bluefish. All the same, you might want to bring along a cutting tool just in case of emergencies.

Many guys bring hand gaffs to the wall to land the fish, but remember, only gaff fish you are going to keep, otherwise, use the heavy-duty leader to wire the fish over the wall for a quick release.

Big blues will patrol the surfline as well, though instead of throwing artificials, I find chunking bunker for them is a better way to get bit. Scale up with 12-foot Shimano Tiralejo rods and Shimano Ultegra 10000 reels spooled with 50- to 65-pound Power Pro, a braid friendly fish-finder slide, then 100-pound Spro barrel swivel with 30-inch section of 60-pound Triple Fish mono leader and a size 10/0 Gamakatsu octopus hook. Bait up with a chunk of bunker, cast out and be sure the sand spike is pounded deep into the sand, rooted hard because blues will absolutely steal the rod from right under your nose and drag it out to sea.

Last May I was jumping between docks, inlets, boats and the surf all hours of the day, chasing down the blues where they were popping up. It’s definitely a time to be mobile, and though morning and evening times are always solid bets to have fish feeding, blues seem to be throwing parties all around the clock.

One week they may be crashing through Absecon Inlet, the next it’s Barnegat Inlet. At 8 a.m. they may be at Manasquan Inlet, by noon it could be up around the bridges at Routes 37 or 72.

If you can’t take off work to fish, it’s not a problem. Just hit it when you can. But one thing is for sure, don’t miss out this May on getting into the battle of the blues.

 

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